Working in Counselling
Posts and Roles
There are six different kinds of post within Counselling/Psycho-Social Interventions, each with a different level of responsibility. These are
- Counselling Volunteers
- Counselling Practitioners
- Counselling Co-ordinator
- Senior Practitioners
- Deputy Functional Specialist Lead
- Functional Specialist Lead
Counselling Volunteers are normally working towards their Diploma and work with less complex service users, under the supervision of the Counselling Co-ordinator.
All KCA counsellors are diploma level qualified as a minimum standard, and are encouraged to apply for British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) accreditation and work within the BACP Ethical Framework for Good Practice in Counselling and Psychotherapy.
What do Counsellors do?
KCA counsellors work within a harm reduction framework, helping service users set realistic goals over a short term. Counsellors assist service users to understand the link between life events and substance misuse and help them identify and implement strategies to managing changing patterns of problematic substance misuse.
Counsellors need strong engagement skills in order to understand the issues service users bring with them, while maintaining the objectivity needed to encourage the service users to progress.
Extending the role
Training
Counselling/Psycho-Social Intervention workers contribute to KCA's Training Curriculum by providing specialist training sessions such as
- Volunteer Training
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
- Motivational Interviewing